U.S. Condemns Iran's Holocaust Conference

The Bush administration on Tuesday condemned a conference sponsored by the Iranian government questioning whether the Holocaust took place, calling it "a platform for hatred" and "an affront to the entire civilized world."

The two-day event in Tehran was initiated by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The hard-line president has described the Holocaust as a "myth" and called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

"The gathering of Holocaust deniers in Tehran is an affront to the entire civilized world, as well as to the traditional Iranian values of tolerance and mutual respect," the White House said in a statement.

International condemnation has poured in against the government-sponsored gathering which drew 67 Holocaust skeptics from 30 countries, including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was "shocking beyond belief" and called the conference "a symbol of sectarianism and hatred."

The timing comes as President Bush has been prodded by a bipartisan commission to engage Iran in calming violence in Iraq, an idea Mr. Bush has been reluctant to embrace unless Iran suspends its nuclear weapons pursuits.

Ahmadinejad organized the conference, which began on Monday, in an attempt to bolster his image as a leader standing up to Israel, Europe and the United States – an image he has used to whip up support at home and abroad.

Israel's official Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, said the Tehran conference was "an effort to mainstream Holocaust denial" and "paint (an) extremist agenda with a scholarly brush."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dismissed the criticism as "predictable," telling delegates there was "no logical reason for opposing this conference."

Participants at the conference praised Ahmadinejad, saying the gathering gives them the chance to air theories casting doubt on the Nazi genocide that are banned in parts of Europe.

"Ahmadinejad's Holocaust comment opened a new window in international relations on this issue. Twenty years ago, it was not possible to talk about Holocaust and any scientific study was subject to punishment. This taboo has been broken, thanks to Mr. Ahmadinejad's initiative," Georges Theil of France told conference delegates on Tuesday.

Theil was convicted earlier this year in France for "contesting the truth of crimes against humanity" after he said the Nazis never used poison gas against Jews.

Michele Renouf, an Australian socialite supporter of "Holocaust skeptics," called Ahmadinejad "a hero" for opening a debate about the Holocaust. Renouf, a blonde former beauty queen, addressed the audience wearing a green robe and Islamic headscarf, abiding by Iranian law requiring women to cover their hair.

"This conference has an incredible impact on Holocaust studies all over the world," said Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader and former state representative in Louisiana.

"The Holocaust is the device used as the pillar of Zionist imperialism, Zionist aggression, Zionist terror and Zionist murder," Duke told The Associated Press.

In Germany, Austria and France, it is illegal to deny the Holocaust or question some aspects of it, and several of the Tehran conference participants have been prosecuted. They and the conference organizers have touted the gathering as an expression of academic free speech.

Participants milled around a model of the Auschwitz concentration camp brought by one speaker, Australian Frederick Toben, who uses the mock-up in lectures contending that the camp was too small to kill mass numbers of Jews. More than 1 million people are estimated to have been killed there.

Toben, who was jailed in Germany in 1999 for questioning the Holocaust, has toured Iranian universities in the past, delivering lectures.

Also among the participants are two rabbis and four other members of the group Jews United Against Zionism, who were dressed in the traditional long black coats and black hats of ultra-Orthodox Jews. The group says the creation of the state of Israel violated Jewish law and argues that the Holocaust should not be used to justify its founding.

In response to the forum, the Vatican issued a statement calling the Holocaust an "immense tragedy before which we cannot remain indifferent ... The memory of those horrible events must remain as a warning for people's consciences."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, "we reject with all our strength the conference taking place in Iran about the supposed nonexistence of the Holocaust."

"We absolutely reject this; Germany will never accept this and will act against it with all the means that we have," Merkel said at a news conference alongside visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Olmert earlier called the conference a "sick phenomenon." With Merkel, he linked the Holocaust with what he contends is Iran's intention to destroy Israel.

"We have learned and memorized the lesson (from the Holocaust); the weak and defenseless are doomed," Olmert said.

Israelis were outraged by the Holocaust deniers' conference, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger.

"This has nothing to do with research or any exploration of the historical issues but is merely an attempt to bring together anti-Semites to try and disseminate anti-Semitic propaganda and delegitimize the state of Israel," said Ephraim Zuroff, who heads the Israeli branch of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.